Gnarls Barkley is an American

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

duo composed of singer-songwriter

CeeLo Green Thomas DeCarlo Callaway-Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green or simply Cee-Lo), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Green came to initial pr ...

and producer Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, ''

St. Elsewhere ''St. Elsewhere'' is an American medical drama television series created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988. The series stars Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd, and William Daniels as ...

'', in 2006. It contained their hit single "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other ...

", which peaked at number two on the US Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. It was nominated at the 2007

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s for

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

, and was platinum certified for shipping over 1,000,000 records. ''St. Elsewhere'' also received a nomination for Album of the Year. Their second studio album'', The Odd Couple'', was scheduled for release in April 2008, but due to a leak of the album over the internet, they decided to release it early. The album in its entirety received similarly positive reviews.

History

Background

CeeLo Green first entered the scene as part of the

Atlanta hip hop Although the Music of Atlanta, music scene of Atlanta is rich and varied, the city's production of hip-hop music has been especially noteworthy, acclaimed, and commercially successful. In 2009, ''The New York Times'' called Atlanta "hip-hop's ce ...

group Goodie Mob which had a large hand in the Dirty South movement of the 1990s. Green left the group after their third album in 1999 and started his solo career. That year he sang on "Do You Like the Way" along with

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American musician. She is celebrated as one of the most influential musical artists of her generation. Hill is credited with breaking barriers for female rappers, contributing to the popular music, m ...

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

's multi-platinum ''

Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

'' album. Brian Joseph Burton, better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, has produced albums for a number of hip hop and rock artists, including

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

' ''

Demon Days ''Demon Days'' is the second studio album by the British virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 11 May 2005 in Japan, 23 May 2005 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone, and 24 May 2005 in the United States by Virgin Records. The album continu ...

'', and

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

' '' Attack & Release'', '' El Camino'', and '' Turn Blue''. He received international attention for his mash-up '' The Grey Album'', which blended the

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

edition of

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

's '' The Black Album'' with samples from

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' '' White Album''. The duo first crossed paths while Green was performing at the University of Georgia and Danger Mouse won a contest to DJ. They became musical partners and worked together on the songs that would become ''St. Elsewhere''; prior to the release of that album they collaborated on the songs "What You Sittin' On?" for Lex Records in 2004, and "Benzie Box" from the Danger Doom album ''

The Mouse and the Mask ''The Mouse and the Mask'' (stylized as ''THE MOUSE & THE MASK'') is the only studio album by Danger Doom, a collaboration between the hip hop artists Danger Mouse and MF Doom. It was released in Europe on October 10, 2005, and on October 11, ...

'' in 2005.

Band name

The band was named while Burton was in a cafe in Silver Lake, California, Burton and friends began playing a game of creating fake celebrity names such as Prince Gnarls and Bob Gnarly. When the name Gnarls Barkley was invented, Burton wrote it down. The name was chosen purely on its sound and not on any basketball fandom by the duo. Despite this,

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...

has said he is honored by the homage. According to a ''Billboard'' article: "Burton and CeeLo have been cagey about what the name of the act means, and each live performance is an opportunity to play dress-up as tennis players, astronauts and chefs, among many other get-ups. The costuming extends to photo shoots, as Burton and Cee Lo would rather impersonate characters from such films as ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...

'' or ''

Wayne's World "Wayne's World" was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series ''Saturday Night Live''. The first "Wayne's World" sketch appeared in the 13th ''Saturday Night Live'' episode of the Saturday Night Live season 14, 1988–1989 seas ...

''." They also have dressed up as characters from films '' A Clockwork Orange'' and ''

Napoleon Dynamite ''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American Independent film, independent Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt (producer), Chris Wyatt and Sean C. Covel (producer), Sean Covel, written by Jared and J ...

''. CeeLo Green said in an interview:

That is that electric industrial Euro soul, that's what I call it ... if I can call it anything. It truly is shapeless and formless. My style and my approach is still water, and it runs so deep. So, with that project I got a chance to be a lil' zany, of course a continuation of eccentricity, abstract and vague, and all of those wonderful things that make art exactly what it is. And that's subject to interpretation. As far as the artiste himself, it does cater to and extend the legacy of Cee Lo Green, and showcase the diversity and range and intention of Cee Lo Green. It is a great project that I'm very, very proud of.

''St. Elsewhere'' (2006–2007)

Downtown/Atlantic in the United States and Warner Bros. Records in the United Kingdom signed the band after several songs, including "

", were played for them by Danger Mouse's management company Waxploitation. "Crazy" was released as their first single on April 3, 2006, preceded by its release as digital download and 12"

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

single in March 2006. It gained some of its popularity due to its use on primetime

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

's television advert, and it was also made Record of the Week by Ken Bruce of

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

, Scott Mills and Jo Whiley of BBC Radio 1 as well as being made 'Weekend Anthem' by DJ Spoony and Sara Cox (also of Radio 1). In an interview with journalist Stephen Mooallem about "Crazy", Mooallem asked the duo, "Is it true that Cee-Lo recorded the vocals for "Crazy" in just one take?" to which Danger Mouse replied, "Yeah. He had the words written on paper, and what you hear on the album was the first time he ever tried singing it. He went in and gave it a shot, really just to see what it would sound like. We just kept it because it sounded great." The song was, in addition, considered by the duo to be an "independent joint venture," paid for entirely "out-of-pocket." Catapulting the two into stardom, the single was primarily responsible for their success, as they "didn't even have a formal deal in place" until the song hit No. 1. In the United Kingdom, "Crazy" became the first ever single to top the UK Singles Chart purely on download sales as it was released online a week before it was released as a CD single. It was also the first single to top the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks consecutively since 1994 when

Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish soft rock band formed in 1982. They scored a number of hits on the UK charts and around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. They are best known for their 1994 cover of the Troggs' 1960s hit " Love Is All Around", which ...

's "

Love Is All Around "Love Is All Around" is a song recorded by English rock band the Troggs. Released as a single in October 1967, it was a top-ten hit in both the UK and US. "Love Is All Around" has been covered by numerous artists, including R.E.M., with w ...

" was number one for fifteen weeks (the last song to spend exactly nine weeks on top was "Two Tribes" by

Frankie Goes to Hollywood Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English pop band that formed in Liverpool in 1980. They comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Mark O'Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitar) and Peter Gill (drums). Johnson and Ruther ...

in 1984). It has also equaled the

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

1975 classic "

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''A Night at the Opera (Queen album), A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by Queen's lead si ...

", which also topped the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks. Gnarls Barkley announced that as the record had spent its ninth week at number one, it was to be deleted as a vinyl/CD listing from May 28, 2006, so people will "remember the song fondly and not get sick of it". "Crazy" is also the longest number-one on the

UK Official Download Chart The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The main chart con ...

with its stay lasting eleven consecutive weeks. In late 2009 the song was voted as the best song of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine. The group released their debut album, ''

'', on April 24, 2006, in the United Kingdom and on May 9, 2006, in their native United States. For their American television debut on ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the second installment of the ''Late Night (franchise), Late Night'' franchise originally established by David Letterman. Hosted by Conan O'Brie ...

'', May 24, 2006, the band performed "Crazy". They performed along with

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

, AFI, and

Wolfmother Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band from Sydney. Formed in 2004, the group is centred around vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, who is the only constant member of the line-up. The band has been through many personnel changes since t ...

at the MTV Movie Awards 2006 on June 8, 2006. They were dressed as characters from the film series ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

''.

Rebel Alliance The Rebel Alliance (known formally Universe of Star Wars, in-universe as the Alliance to Restore the Republic) is an organization that features in the fictional world of the Star Wars, ''Star Wars'' franchise. The Alliance is portrayed as a state ...

pilots, Imperial officers, Stormtroopers, Chewbacca,

Jango Fett Jango Fett is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, created by George Lucas. He first appeared as the secondary antagonist of the 2002 film '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'', played by Temuera Morrison. The ch ...

, Obi-Wan, with Cee-Lo singing as an unmasked

Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...

. In October 2006, Gnarls Barkley recorded a live session for '' Live from Abbey Road'' at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

. ''St. Elsewhere'' has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for selling over 1,000,000 albums in the United States. A limited edition deluxe package of ''St. Elsewhere'' was released on November 7, 2006. The CD+DVD package includes a 92-page booklet, four music videos and bonus songs from live performance. ''St. Elsewhere'' was nominated for four

s in 2007 including for

, and Album of the Year, winning two of them for Best Alternate Music Album, and Best Urban/Alternate Performance for "

". "

" was featured in a couple of TV shows and movies, like The Big Short, Medium, Kick-Ass, I Think I Love My Wife, Religulous, Cold Case, How to Rock, Grey's Anatomy, Boyhood, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Gnarls Barkley in Melbourne

From January until March 2007, they toured with the

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...

through the U.S. They did a collaborative short film in both the Spring of 2006 and 2007 with the international TV series ''

Kung Faux ''Kung Faux'' is an international action comedy television series and audiovisual art assemblage created by Mic Neumann, an American creator–developer showrunner, conceptual artist and multimedia entrepreneur, who remixes classic kung fu fil ...

'' which airs heavily on

Channel V Channel '' ("V" as in the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney In ...

around the world, and they also toured Australia in March and April 2007 as part of the Channel V Festival.

''The Odd Couple'' (2008)

In early March 2008, the duo's second album, '' The Odd Couple'', was leaked over the internet prompting the duo to push the release date up from April 8. In an interview with Entertainment Magazine, Danger Mouse said that he "knew it he leakwas coming...every day, I expected to get a call saying it leaked, and eventually I got a call saying it leaked." On March 18, 2008, the album became available via download on the iTunes Store and

Amazon MP3 Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manage ...

. Hard copies of the album were released on March 25. Prior to its official release, Green spoke to the album's anti-formulaic qualities, noting bluntly that "there's no formula to it," and that to expect the same wild success of ''St. Elsewhere'' is to neglect the ever-present "risk factor in any artistic endeavor." He called it something of an "act of faith" – a true, earnest attempt to create and disseminate a piece of art to those who would seek out its conception. They appeared as the musical guest on the April 12, 2008 episode of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

.'' They were supposed to be in a Digital Short parodying amateur music videos according to the scrolled text but only appeared in the singing performances of the live broadcast. On November 11, 2008, they released an EP, ''Who's Gonna Save My Soul'', featuring four versions of the song which originally appeared on ''The Odd Couple'', along with a live version of "Neighbors" and a previously unreleased song, "Mystery Man." A music video for "Mystery Man" was directed by Walter Robot and premiered on

Yahoo! Music Yahoo Music was a brand under which Yahoo provided music services including Internet radio, a digital music store, music streaming service, media player software, and original programming. Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody in early 2008. Pro ...

Third studio album (2013–present)

In 2013, Green stated they would be releasing a third album sometime in the future. In late 2017, Green stated "We have already started on a new narls Barkleyalbum, we're halfway in and we have some overtures from the other projects that may not have stood the test of time, we don't know yet." In July 2020, he revealed that the

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

happened as he was working on this third effort. On April 20, 2025, Green reassured that new Gnarls Barkley is coming soon through a Facebook post which included a picture of himself and Danger Mouse.

Discography

* ''

'' (2006) * '' The Odd Couple'' (2008)

Awards

;BET Awards , - , rowspan="3" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, , "Crazy" , , Video of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2" , Gnarls Barkley , ,

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that ar ...

, , , - , Best Group , , , - ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , Gnarls Barkley , , Best Group , , ;Brit Awards , - , rowspan="3" ,

, , ''St. Elsewhere'' , , International Album , , , - , rowspan="2" , Gnarls Barkley , , International Breakthrough Act , , , - , International Group , , ;Grammy Awards , - , rowspan="4" ,

, , rowspan="2" , ''St. Elsewhere'' , , Album of the Year , , , - ,

Best Alternative Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...

, , , - , rowspan="2" , "Crazy" , ,

, , , - , Best Urban/Alternative Performance , , , - ,

, , "Gone Daddy Gone" , , Best Music Video , , , - , rowspan="3" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , "Going On" , , Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals , , , - , "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" , , Best Music Video , , , - , ''The Odd Couple'' , ,

, , ;MTV Europe Music Awards , - , rowspan="3" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, , Gnarls Barkley , , Future Sound , , , - , rowspan="2" , "Crazy" , , Best Song , , , - , Best Video , , ;MTV Video Music Awards , - , rowspan="3" ,

, , rowspan="3" , "Crazy" , , Best Group Video , , , - , Best Direction , , , - , Best Editing , , , - ,

, , "Smiley Face" , , Best Editing , , , - , rowspan="2" ,

, , rowspan="2" , "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)" , , Best Choreography , , , - , Best Art Direction , , , - , rowspan="3" ,

, , rowspan="3" , "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" , , Breakthrough Video , , , - , Best Visual Effects , , , - , Best Art Direction , , ;MTVU Woodie Awards , - , rowspan="2" ,

, , Gnarls Barkley , , Left Field Woodie , , , - , "Crazy" , , Best Video Woodie - Animated , , , - ,

, , "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" , , Best Video Woodie , , ;NAACP Image Awards , - , rowspan="2" ,

, , Gnarls Barkley , , Outstanding Duo or Group , , , - , "Crazy" , , Outstanding Song , , ;Q Awards , - , rowspan="2" ,

, , "Crazy" , , Best Track , , , - , "Smiley Face" , , Best Video , , ;Soul Train Music Awards , - , rowspan="2" ,

, , ''St. Elsewhere'' , , Best R&B/Soul Album – Group, Band or Duo , , , - , "Crazy" , , Best R&B/Soul Single – Group, Band or Duo , , ;Teen Choice Awards , - , rowspan="2" ,

, , Gnarls Barkley , , Choice Music: Male Breakout Artist , , , - , "Crazy" , , Choice Music: Summer Song , , * 2009 Rolling Stone 100 Best Songs of the Decade – No. 1 "Crazy"

References

External links

* {{Authority control Grammy Award winners Musical groups established in 2003 Atlantic Records artists MTV Video Music Award winners African-American musical duos Musical duos from Georgia (U.S. state) American soul musical groups Alternative rock groups from Georgia (U.S. state) MTV Europe Music Award winners Downtown Records artists 2003 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)